Terror Incorporated: Tracing the Dollars Behind the Terror Networks

I heard the author lecture at a bookstore in lower Manhattan, and although I initially hesitated buying her book - the beginning of her lecture began too "soft" - I later broached harder economic questions, which she deftly answered. Impressed, or at least positively engaged, I bought the book. I'm finding it well written and well researched, and I'm surprised that it weaves together much common, but fragmented, knowledge into a cohesive review of terrorist financing, without the partiality common to politically/ideologically oriented analyses.

Solid stuff. At times Napoleoni's chapters get a touch of the fact explosions, but the general point is clear by the end. She lays out the historical development that led to contemporary terrorist movements (the funding of groups and client states by the cold war superpowers; their withdrawal and the consequent internationalization of terrorist and separatist movements and their economies; the ideal conditions for such groups being failing states, in which they can set up "shell-states," which fulfill many of the functions of an official state, e.g., taxation and public services).

My only complaint is that she tends sometimes toward conspiracy thinking about the west; or, on the other hand, comes close to suggesting that terrorist show more groups are motivated primarily by money. In both cases, she gives too much credit to the actors involved, I think. This is the ideal place to start if you want to learn about terrorist groups, either specific or in general. show less

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Bijzonder slecht boek over de financiering van het terrorisme. Zeer slordig, en onbetrouwbaar. Vulgair marxistische visie op terrorisme. Rode brigades in Italie zouden een begroting van 100 miljard hebben gehad, omvang van de terroristische geldstromen, 1,5 biljoen. Wie gelooft dit? Gaat wel in op verwevenheid van terrorisme en drugshandel. Lees verder....